Reuters

In a case watched worldwide, a Myanmar court on Monday sentenced two Reuters correspondents to seven years in prison for violating that country's archaic Official Secrets Act. The two men, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were detained in December 2017 while investigating the mass killing of a Rohingya villagers. The case has been widely denounced as harassment by press freedom groups and the UN. "The United Nations has consistently called for the release of the Reuters journalists and urged the authorities to respect their right to pursue freedom of expression and information," said Knut Ostby, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar.

Two Reuters journalists, arrested while reporting on human rights abuses in Myanmar, have been selected as recipients of the Don Bolles Medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors. The medal recognizes investigative journalists who have exhibited extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the truth about matters of public importance. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been imprisoned since December 2017. At the time of their arrest, thyey were investigating the September 2017 massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The murders occurred during an army crackdown that the United Nations said has sent 700,000 people flooding into Bangladesh.

Two Reuters journalists arrested while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslims will face trial in Myanmar after a court rejected a motion to drop the case against them. Reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were detained in December and accused of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act for possessing material relating to security operations in Rakhine state that was handed to them by the police. Myanmar has faced global condemnation and accusations of extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing and genocide as about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Rakhine for Bangladesh after a military crackdown on insurgents.